Democracy literally means rule by the demos or people (although the Greeks originally used demos to mean 'the poor' or 'the many'). The most important characteristic of democratic form of government have been summed up in the famous words of Abraham Lincoln[1] in calling it, Government of the people, for the people and by the people.”  This highlights the impor­tance of three Core features of democracy. First, the stress upon 'the people' implies political *equality, an equal distribution of politi­cal power and influence. Second, *government 'by' the people emphasizes the importance of popular participation. Third, gov­ernment 'for' the people highlights the fact that democracy suggests rule in the public interest.

Mass participation is the greatest characteristic of democracy.  In the world of Dicey, “Democracy is a form of government in which governing body is comparatively a large section of the entire nation.”  Democratic form of government shows a new way of life based upon the traits of equality, liberty and fraternity. 

Democracy has been classified as direct and indirect.  In the former the entire public directly participates in carrying out the forms of administration.  This is possible only in a very small state such as the ancient Greek city-states.  Direct democracy thus obliterates the distinction between government and governed, and between the state and civil society; it is a system of popular self-government.

Since modern state are rather too big, it is generally indirect democracy. This from of government is now present in most of the countries of the world. It is indirect in that the public do not exercise power themselves; they merely select those who will rule on their behalf. This form of rule is democratic only insofar as representation establishes a reliable and effective link between the government and the governed. It is often observed that democracy becomes in practice aristocracy or the government of particular political party or of a political section or of a dominant political leader.  Most of the difficulties of democracy can be removed by proper political education of the masses, organisation of public opinion, growth of national character and the evolution of leadership at different levels of society.

It is distinguished by the following characteristic as a form of government:

• The political power rests in the hands of people or their elective representatives. The legislature is responsible to the masses.
• The executive is responsible to the representative of the people. People are the final judges in the field of administration.
• Every citizen is given equal right before the court of law.  The judiciary takes care of the rights of the people.
• The people control the government.  They can even remove it or change it.
• The state is a welfare state, looking after the welfare of every section of society.

Amongst the advantages that have been claimed for democracy are the following:

• It protects the individual from government, and so defends free­dom, by ensuring that power is constrained and subject to popu­lar consent;
•  it promotes education and personal development by allowing citizens, through political participation, to gain insight into how their society operates;
• it strengthens community and social solidarity by giving all people a stake in society by virtue of having a voice in its deci­sion-making processes;
• it widens social and personal well-being by ensuring that govern­ment policies reflect the interests of citizens at large;
•  it guarantees political stability by bringing the 'outputs' of gov­ernment into line with popular 'inputs', so generating equili­brium.

Amongst the criticisms that have been made of democracy are the; following:

• as wisdom and knowledge are unequally distributed in society,democracy leads to rule by the ignorant and poorly informed masses;
• it amounts to a 'tyranny of the 51 per cent' because it means that individual liberty and minority rights can be crushed by the majority, in the name of the people;
• it results in excessive government and state control because it articulates the interests of the collective body rather than those of the individual;
•  it may result in dictatorship and repression because it allows demagogues to come to power by appealing to the basest instincts of the masses